Storms of the Northlands

The battle in the east tower of the Guildhall continued! Facing the cyclops guardians of the tower and its treasure, the party sprang into action. Mimzy sprouted sorcerous wings all the colors of the spectrum, and flitted past one of the guards, catching its attention. The brute swung it’s club at our favorite gnome, but missed by a mile. He immediately regretted his decision, as Slagathor’s primal fury staggered him, and Mimzy’s new wings zapped him with waves of chaos energy. The brute was barely standing as Mimzy safely landed on his other side and felled him with a sorcerous Rimestorm spell.

The second cyclops was battered, tripped, and dragged by Willem and Noer’s attacks. It lost its footing for the final time when Mimzy cast Ice Dragon’s Teeth upon it, setting it up for Sin to strike the final blow, driving his blade into the creature’s eye.

Searching the room, the party found a new set of magical hide armor for Slagathor, a magical collar for Mimzy’s familiar, Karrot, and an enchanted scabbard that Willem was quite taken with. Moranin set about smashing the altar to Mual-Tar and ensuring that there was no lingering influence from the primordial’s cult.

The group also did a head count (no pun intended) of the skulls in the tower. They realized that between zombies, bodies, skulls, and living cultists, they had accounted for all but one of the missing Hammer and Chisel members. The last person they needed to find was a half-elven woman, Anasefina.

The party ascended the final set of stairs into the west tower. There they found Anasefina, also known as the Bleak Tempest. She and Willem bantered back and forth, with the usual results. She then commanded her lackeys – a pair of slobbering, feral gnolls and a pair of sinewy lightning salamanders – to attack.

Although repeatedly battered by Anasefina’s necrotic lightning attacks, Sin, with the aid of Noer, managed to strike the half-elf down. Noer isolated the rest of their enemies behind a wall of thorns, giving Slagathor the opening she needed to cleave one of the gnolls from neck to midsection. As Noer lowered the wall, Mimzy transfomred into crackling lighting and shifted into the midst of the combat. She then proceeded to Thunder Leap straight up and down, causing the last Gnoll to literally explode from the thundrous damage. The party’s attacks whittled away at the salamanders, setting one up to be slain by Noer with a Chll Wind. A headlong charge from Sin sliced the remaining salamander in half.

A powerful primal guardian had been entombed in this tower ages before, and Noer and Slagathor worked together to reveal his dusty remains. With great respect, they took his final gifts – a powerful totem for Noer, and a magical ring for Slagathor.

Bruised, bloody, but victorious, our heroes stumbled from the hall and made their way to the Adventurers’ Guldhouse, where they found a much needed rest.

The heroes found themselves in pitched battle with the vicious true face of the Hammer and Chisel. Slagathor engaged two of the minotaur bodyguards, while Sin clashed with the third. Noer, in her animal form, clamped her jaws on the leg of the High Cardinal. Mimzy, Moranin, and Willem battled the Cardinal’s warrior bodyguard.

Sin quickly slew the minotaur he was facing, flinging the body off of the balcony to the floor below. Slagthor made short work of her opponents as well. She summoned the power of the earth to pin one of the minotaurs to the ground. So great was the primal power called upon, when the minotaur attempted to regain his footing, he was literally flayed. Its skeleton stood for a moment, before crumbling to the ground. The battle moved to the lower chamber, with Mimzy battering enemies over the edge with winds of chaos, and Willem using his bardic powers to literally dance the High Cardinal into a 30’ fall (insert a Willhelm Scream here). Noer, in animal form, raced down the staircase, leaping upon the Cardinal and tearing his throat out.

After a short rest, and an investigation of the chamber which yielded two elaborate statuaries worth thousands of gold pieces and the deeds to both Underhall, and the Griffon’s Nest brothel, the party proceeded up one of the spiral staircases leading out of the chamber. Willem insisted that once cleared, the Guildhall should serve as the Stormchasers’ headquarters.

At the top of the stairs, the party entered a domed tower. A foul altar to Mual-Tar stood at one end of the room, covered in spilt blood. A recently slain body had been tossed carelessly into the corner, atop a pile of skulls. Most interesting to the investigating eye was a large chest, surely filled with treasures of some sort. But this would have to wait, as the chamber was guarded by two huge Cyclops thugs, a demonic drow, and a robed tiefling – Lucian, one of the members of the Hammer and Chisel.

The party quickly leapt into battle. Sin found himself on the receiving end of a baleful abyssal curse that stunned him, leaving him vulnerable to attack. Noer drew on the primal spirits and summoned a giant toad, who lashed out at the villains with a sticky tongue. The drow quickly fell to the party’s attacks. Lucian had little time to enact his wrath upon the ‘Chasers, as he was bombarded with the party’s might, and then separated from his head by a powerful swing of Slagathor’s blade. The party regrouped, and prepared to finish off the Cyclops guards.

After finding a secret stairway leading from Underhall to the Guildhall above, the Stormchasers advanced up into the ancient structure. At the top of the stairs, they found a large chamber, with four staircases leading off and up, and a large raised dais with a plush throne. They were also confronted with representatives of the true power behind the Hammer and Chisel – A tiefling cleric, a medusa archer, a summoned angel of the storm, and three human archers. Immediately, a battle was met!

Slagathor charged across the battle field, leaping the ten feet straight up in the air to land on the dais. She engaged the medusa in combat, shrugging off wave after wave of the foul beast’s petrifying gaze. Sin isolated one of the archers, and made short work of him, cutting the cultists in half with a strike from thin air. Mimzy unleashed blast after blast of pure chaos, causing one of the archers to (quite literally) lose his head, and eventually disintegrating the angel. Moranin acted as support, healing his allies, and scourging the enemies with sacred flame.

On the dais, Slagathor called upon the primal fury of her mountain home, and unleashed a burst of power that slew the tiefling cleric and the remaining archer. The medusa found herself overwhelmed by the combined might of the adventurers, knocked to the ground, shoved across the dais by a charge from Noer, and finally skewered on the end of Willem’s rapier.

After a moment to rest and regroup, the party advanced up one of the staircases, leading to a lofted area above their previous battleground. They were confronted by a handful of human cult members, 3 minotaur warriors, the high cardinal of the Hammer and Chisel cult, and his warrior bodyguard. The high cardinal bantered with Willem for a moment, referring to the merchant guild members as “pawns” and “sacrifices”. He also claimed that “ The Harbinger” had forewarned him of the Stormchasers. Finally, growing tired of Willem’s bravado, he commanded his forces to attack. Slagathor quickly knocked one of the minotaur guards down to the chamber below, but it recovered rapidly and rejoined the battle, hustling up the opposite staircase. Moranin annihilated several cultists with a Trumpet of Awe. Mimzy temporarily banished the High Cardinal to a pocket dimension, but the advantage was shortlived, as he managed to push through the Veil and become a threat to the party yet again!

At last, the dwarven caravan arrived at the city of Blasingdell. But much had changed since the last time the Stormchasers had been there. They were met at the city gates by a dozen heavily armed dwarven soldiers, part of a regiment dispatched from Khrundukar to keep order in the city. The ’Chasers were taken to meet the new “mayor” of Blasingdell – who turned out to be none other than their old friend Kheldeggan Tolm!

Tolm quickly caught them up on the events in town. During the height of the magical storms, the members of the Hammer and Chisel, the 30 most prominent town citizens, disappeared, leaving Blasingdell with no leadership. The city quickly devolved into chaos, leaving Helgard no choice but to have his dwarves seize the city and impose martial law upon it.

The party arranged to meet with Tolm that evening at the Adventurer’s Guildhouse, and then returned to Casper and Scarlett with news of their adventures (and the Guild’s share of their earnings). At dinner, Tolm further elaborated on the recent happenings of the city. The ‘Chasers agreed to help Tolm select a new mayor for the town, and instructed him to gather the names of possible candidates for the position. They then set out to Underhall to enjoy some refreshments and to investigate the Hammer and Chisel’s dissapearance.

Willem made the acquaintance of the manager of Underhall, a half-elven woman named Brenna, who was also half-owner of the Griffon’s Nest, a popular brothel in Blasingdell. Her partner in the latter venture turned out to be Talbot Artfulhands. It was Willem’s duty to inform her of the halfling’s sad fate, and to offer her his possible investment in the brothel as a new partner.

Mimzy made friends with Gromo, the grizzled dwarven bartender, but was pulled away from her new friend by Sin, who had discovered a secret door in the back of the bar. With the help of a timely distratcion by Willem, Mimzy cloaked the secret door (and Sin) in an Arcane Curtain, and the elf managed to open the door onto a lush meeting room. Upon opening the door, Sin and Mizy were immediately met with an overwhelming stench of rot and decay. Willem tactfully explained the situation to Brenna, who cleared the bar. She then tearfully revealed to the party that the Hammer and Chisel were the real owners of the bar, and the they met in secret in this hidden room once per month, after their revels.

Sending Brenna to Tolm with a note explaining the situation, the party entered the secret meeting chamber, where they were set upon by a horde of undead – a pair of wights, skeletal reapers, and several of the members of the Hammer and Chisel who had been turned into zombies!

The ’Chasers lept into action, with Slagathor teleporting directly into battle, pulverizing one of the reapers, and then devastating all of her surrounding opponents with a thunderous burst of primal fury. Noer called upon her druidic powers to deadly effect, critically injuring three opponents in a row to spectacular result.

The group then searched the decadent meeting chambers, finding signs of s atruggle, as well as several choice bits of treasure. Sin also found another secret door in a dusty storage pantry, with stairs leading up, likely into the heart of the Guildhall itself!

As the caravan continued on to Blasingdell, the ’Chasers were once again called upon to aid the dwarven pilgrims when a handfull of scouts failed to report back to the camp. Sin tracked the scounts to a heavily wooded area, strewn with dangerous looking webs.

The missing scouts were coccooned within the webs, and, as the party moved to aid them, they were set upon by a drider, a renegade drow, and a handfull of deadly spiders.

After a ferocious combat, the ’Chasers managed to slay or drive off all of their assailants, and free the dwarven scouts. Next stop – Blasingdell!

The adventurers rested a day in Gathol’Kazad, now removed from the influence of the Stormfury Cult. During this rest, Mimzy used the inherent magics of the fortress to aid her in crafting an enchanted silver blade.

Returning to Lastwall, the party was met with sights of great destruction wrought upon the area by the storms unleashed by the orcs’ ritual. Felled trees, roofs torn from buildings, and sections of walls smashed flat were all being repaired by the hardworking folk of Lastwall. The party was met with a hero’s welcome, and were celebrated for their success in stopping the orc onslaught. They also learned that the residents of Lastwall had begun to refer to them as “The Stormchasers”, or “The ’Chasers” for short. Willem and Mimzy both quite liked the name.

Having decided that he had his fill of adventuring, and perhaps sporting a bit of a crush on Surina Oakenshield, Balthazar opted to leave the party and remain in Lastwall as the new Captain of the Guard. His spot was quickly filled by the party’s newest friend, Moranin Dotek, a course and foul-mouthed, hard-drinking clanless dwarf, one of a group of notoriours ne’er-do-well brothers.

The ’Chasers decided to acompany the dwarven caravan heading to Blasingdell, and took a few days to say some goodbyes to the friends they had made in Lastwall.

The first several days of the joruney were uneventful, but on the third day, just before dusk, scouts from the caravan reported a strange group of figures performing a primal ritual around a druidic circle. Investigating, the party dicsovered two shifters, a withered hag, a centaur, and their troll bodyguard, conducting a sacrifice to summon a powerful Werewolf Lord.

The party launched into action, utilizing some of their newly minted abilities. A combination of powerful tactics allowed Sin to dispatch the Werewolf Lord, including a spectacular attack delivered from empty air that nearly felled the beast in one hit.

One of the shifters fell to a Chromatic Orb tossed by Mimzy, while a prayer from Moranin set the other ablaze, inflicting damage the fiend would shortly perish from. Sin also struck the killing blow against the troll, only to suffer an explosion of shrapnel from the dying monster that injured himself and Noer. The Centaur struck a powerful blow against the elf avenger, only to be slain by withering black energy unleashed from Sin’s armor.

The hag managed to ensorcell Slagathor, forcing her into a deep sleep and invading her dreams. But Slagathor’s Goliath endurance helped her shake the creature out of her head, setting her up for the death blow from Noer, who immolated the hag with a hawk of pure fire.

Session - 3/16/2010

The party continued to rage against the defenders of the primoridal ritual – two genasi, a living whirlwind, and a phalanx of energy motes. After defeating the Stormfury cultists, everyone turned their attentions to disrupting the ritual.

As they proveeded to break down the arcane wards fueling the ritual, a mighty Goristro demon stalked from the portal, and attacked the group. Quick thinking by Mimzy and Wilem managed to shut down the ritual, revealing a scorched circle of runes and an incinerated body wearing a cloak.